Brooklyn Defender Services is a Brooklyn-based public defense office, representing nearly 40,000 people each year.

We provide legal representation to individuals in Kings County who are arrested, or facing the loss of their children or deportation. More

Help our clients pay for their immigration fees

While BDS provides our clients with free legal services, many of them cannot afford to pay the application fees to obtain lawful immigration status. With required immigration application fees covered by your donations to our Immigration Fees Fund, our clients can work, access essential medical care, support their families, and live a life out from under the shadows and fear of deportation.

This is part of a month-long campaign to provide our clients with basic necessities this holiday season. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more opportunities to give directly our clients in need.

BDS Presents “Power of Prosecutors”

BDS produced “Power of Prosecutors,” an original short film starring some of the most brilliant thinkers on the issue today. Harsh laws allow prosecutors to incarcerate millions, but DAs also have the power and discretion to seek more humane and effective alternatives and promote reform. Voters can hold them accountable. Watch here.

ABOUT

BROOKLYN DEFENDER SERVICES

The mission of Brooklyn Defender Services is to provide high quality legal representation and related services to people who cannot afford to retain an attorney.

Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defender organization that represents nearly 40,000 people each year who are too poor to afford an attorney. Our staff consists of specialized attorneys, social workers, investigators, paralegals and administrative staff who are experts in their individual fields.

Our staff are highly qualified and specially trained to provide excellent legal representation to people charged with a crime or facing child welfare proceedings. Every client receives the services needed to defend his or her case, including an investigator to track down witnesses or recover evidence, a social worker to improve the life circumstances of our client and an excellent attorney who will analyze the legal issues in the case, try to negotiate a fair resolution of the matter and will represent the client at a trial.

BDS has many services for our clients on-site, including civil legal advocacy, such as assistance with educational needs of our clients or their children, housing and benefits advocacy and immigration advice and representation.

People who are arrested face many obstacles, even if their case was resolved in their favor. Some examples are loss of employment, suspension from school, eviction from public or private housing, deportation, forfeiture of property and loss of licenses. Our goal is to help clients with these issues as they arise. We also work to change these systems by challenging their legality and advocating for changes in the law.

Each year, there are 100,000 arrests in Brooklyn. Eighty-five percent of these arrests are for misdemeanors or a non-criminal offense. Ninety percent of the people arrested cannot afford an attorney. Brooklyn Defender Services staffs the court so that every person has an attorney as soon as they see the judge.

One thousand families each year get a similar benefit—they too have an attorney waiting in the courtroom to help them on the very day that proceedings are filed for removal of their children.

Many of our clients are people with a mental illness. Many of our clients are under the age of 18. A growing number are veterans facing difficulties in returning home. A large portion are suffering with drug addiction or alcoholism. It is only through a zealous voice advocating for those unable to speak for themselves that justice is done. BDS is that voice.

PRACTICE AREAS

Criminal Defense

The sixth amendment of the United States Constitution gives every person charged with a crime the right to an attorney. People who are unable to afford an attorney are provided one free of charge. This is the primary function of Brooklyn Defender Services.

In Brooklyn, there are approximately 100,000 arrests per year. BDS represents about 40% of the total people arrested in Brooklyn. About 15% of those cases are felony charges, meaning that the person is accused of a serious matter such as robbery or burglary. In such cases, BDS attorneys interview the client to determine if he or she may be innocent or have a defense to the charges. We investigate and follow up every lead our clients provide. We also work to achieve release from jail for our clients while the charges are pending. Attorneys pursue legal issues that can work to the client’s benefit and attempt to negotiate a plea bargain that will be advantageous for the client, particularly in cases where the client does not have a defense and committed the act he or she is charged with. In many cases, even in such a situation, the client is eligible for drug or mental health treatment rather than a jail sentence. Other social issues may be apparent, such as: our client was a veteran, or was a victim of domestic violence or other trauma. Our many social workers help our clients by identifying issues that are not related to the case itself, but to the person who was arrested. Attorneys use this information to pursue better options for their clients.

Eighty-five percent of our clients are charged with misdemeanor offenses, meaning that the charges are a crime but not the most serious type of crime. Such charges include shoplifting, marijuana possession, trespassing and assaults (like bar fights). In such cases, BDS attorneys work hard to pursue any legal or factual defense the clients may have, including by interviewing witnesses, as with felony matters. However, with less serious matters, much of the damage to the client’s life can come in the form of collateral consequences. For example, a person can face deportation, even if they only had a misdemeanor charge. People living in public housing can face eviction. Many clients have very low paying jobs and face termination for missing even one day of work or for getting a conviction. Some cases even threaten a parent’s right to keep their child or a person’s right to return to their home.

BDS provides many resources to address these other issues because, in our experience, such matters are more harmful to our clients than the impact the criminal charge itself. In addition, the impact of these types of disenfranchising consequences to large numbers of people in small areas of Brooklyn such as Brownsville or East New York also profoundly impacts those communities.

BDS’s clients reflect the demographics of the criminal justice system in which a majority of the people arrested are people of color. Twenty-four percent of our clients — about 10,000 — are youth under 21 years of age and at least 15% live in public or Section 8 housing. About 17% of BDS’s clients—7,600 per year—are non-citizens.

Specialized UnitsFor many of BDS’s clients, poverty, trauma, mental illness, and alcohol or drug abuse are the driving forces behind their involvement in the criminal or family systems. In order to address the unique needs and barriers many of our clients face, BDS has a number of dedicated and specialized units which provide targeted services to adolescents, clients with mental illness, victims of trafficking, veterans and clients with overlapping criminal and family court issues.

Brooklyn Adolescent Representation Team BDS’s integrated adolescent representation team is comprised of ten attorneys working together with an educational attorney and a specialized team of social workers and advocates.

Family/Criminal Integrated Team In 2002, BDS received funding from the City Council to initiate a pilot program in which BDS represented clients with pending criminal matters in their related Family Court proceedings. This was highly beneficial for the clients who were able to have one attorney fully familiar with the facts and circumstances of both cases, and could execute a coordinated legal strategy. For BDS, this allowed us to expand our legal and support services to the clients’ broader needs in a coherent and cost-effective manner. In 2007, the Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Court was created to bring related Family, Criminal, and Matrimonial cases to a single judge who hears all aspects of a case. With the creation of this specialized court, BDS’s Family attorneys were able to transfer their expertise and experience to serving clients in the IDV court where they represent more than 400 clients per year.

Trafficking Team Our Trafficking Team is made up of experienced criminal defense attorneys who specialize in understanding and identifying the complexities related to human trafficking. They represent BDS’s clients in Brooklyn’s Human Trafficking Intervention Part, and are skilled in identifying collateral social and legal service needs – including issues of immigration, safety and trauma. Working closely with social workers, immigration attorneys, interpreters and other service providers, our trafficking attorneys seek to minimize the punitive nature of criminal justice contact and provide meaningful services for victims of trafficking who find themselves facing criminal charges.

Mental Health Team Brooklyn Defender Services represents many clients who have a diagnosed mental illness. Two specialized attorneys with dedicated social work support represent some clients. Our specialized attorneys represent mentally ill clients at competency evaluations, hearings and other court appearances during the pendency of their case. It is also part of our mission to insure that these clients not only receive a fair and just disposition but also the best care and treatment possible. Research has proven that clients with a mentally illness who are offered an opportunity to participate in mental health courts are significantly less likely to get re-arrested than similar offenders with mental illness who experience traditional court processing.

Brooklyn Defender Services played an important role in the development and launch of the Brooklyn Mental Health Court over 10 years ago. Brooklyn Mental Health Court serves as the model for treatment courts all over the world.

Family Defense

The Family Defense Project (BFDP) was formed in 2007 in response to a Request for Proposal issued by the City of New York that envisioned an institutional provider for respondents in Article 10 cases. Originally an office of Legal Services-NYC (LS-NYC), in December 2012, BFDP separated from LS-NYC and joined BDS. BFDP’s in-court and out-of -court advocacy has resulted in over 5,000 children leaving foster care out of the 6,500 of our clients’ children who were in care at some point during the Article 10 case. For more information see our additional website at http://bfdp.org.

From its inception and since moving to BDS, BFDP has continued to develop and improve its model of high quality legal representation for parents involved in the child welfare system. From the growth of the Social Work Unit to the creation of the Young Mother’s Empowerment Project and partnerships with community-based agencies, BFDP has been creative in meeting the needs of poor people facing the loss of their children. With the addition of BDS’s on-site immigration, housing, and educational services and the other areas of expertise at BDS, BFDP is now able to provide more comprehensive one-stop legal and social services to clients. In addition, BFDP now works collaboratively with criminal defense attorneys on shared cases, improving outcomes for clients in both courts.

The focus of BFDP’s work is to assert the due process rights of parents in Family Court, including their constitutional right to family integrity, while providing access to the benefits and services families need to stay together. Our highest priority is to get and keep children out of foster care safely. Studies and experience show that foster care stays result in poor outcomes for children due to the trauma of separation from their families and repeated moves within the foster care system. By zealously representing parents, BFDP reduces the likelihood of foster care placement in the first instance and reduces the average time children spend in foster care overall.

In the six and a half years that BFDP has been providing institutional family representation, we have learned that most children involved in child welfare cases can live safely with their parents or family when they have access to benefits and appropriate services to meet the variety of needs and address the challenges that brought them into Family Court. Throughout the representation of our clients, our staff focuses on making sure parents and families receive these services, either through our own efforts or through agencies and programs in the community.

In 50% of our cases, our clients’ children never enter foster care. Our zealous advocacy, including investigating cases, finding alternative solutions and getting services in place, has significantly reduced the likelihood and duration of foster care placement. In fact, since 2007, when the institutional providers were created, the foster care census has gone down from over 17,000 to under 12,000 children. By both challenging allegations in abuse and neglect petitions and helping families get the benefits and services they need to stay safe and stable, we are able to achieve family reunification for 70% of our clients.

Immigration

BDS’s Immigration Practice provides comprehensive and zealous representation to our clients, who face life-changing consequences at the intersection of the criminal justice system and the immigration system. Since 2009, we have counseled or represented over 7,500 clients. The Immigration Practice is comprised of the Padilla, Youth & Communities Team and the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) Team.

Padilla, Youth & Communities

The Padilla, Youth & Communities Team advises BDS criminal and family defense clients about the potential immigration consequences of criminal charges and family court proceedings, following our constitutional obligation under the Supreme Court’s holding in Padilla v. Kentucky to provide competent advice to criminal defendants to help them make an informed choice about their cases. BDS has one of the largest Padilla practices in the country, as a quarter of BDS criminal clients are foreign-born. Padilla attorneys work closely with criminal and family defense attorneys and staff in an early intervention model, providing immigration-related advice as early as the client’s arraignment and coordinating with court staff, prosecutors, social workers, and client families to promote the best possible outcome for the criminal, family, and/or immigration cases. Padilla attorneys also represent individual clients in applications for immigration status or benefits with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and in removal proceedings before the New York Immigration Court, helping clients stabilize their immigration status and seek safety from persecution, family re-unification, or benefits for victims of neglect, abuse, or violence.

BDS’s Youth and Communities staff serve both BDS clients and Brooklyn community members by representing individual clients before USCIS, family court, and the New York Immigration Court, and have helped hundreds of clients secure permanent residence, asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and other benefits. The Youth & Communities project has run and staffed many community clinics and presentations, for example, to help Brooklyn’s Haitian community secure Temporary Protected Status, to help young people apply for DACA, and to provide critical “Know Your Rights” information, partnering with community based groups, elected officials, churches, and social service providers.

The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP)

The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project is the groundbreaking, first-in-the-nation universal representation program for detained immigrants, funded by the New York City Council and created in partnership with BDS. BDS staff have provided deportation defense to over 750 detained immigrants on an assigned counsel model since NYIFUP’s inception as a pilot program in the fall of 2013. NYIFUP was created after studies showed that detained immigrants in New York rarely secured counsel and that detained, unrepresented immigrants lost their deportation cases 97% of the time, causing wrongful deportations of people who had strong defenses to removal and tearing apart families who were losing a spouse or parent. NYIFUP is a national model of access to justice for detained immigrants and has spurred replication efforts across the country.

BDS’s NYIFUP Team intakes detained clients at the Varick Street Immigration Court in New York City and represents them in bond hearings, merits hearings on their defenses to removal, and appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). In addition, BDS has a highly successful in-house federal court practice, and has litigated dozens of habeas corpus petitions challenging the wrongful detention of immigrants, including the Second Circuit’s landmark decision in Lora v. Shanahan.

BDS’s Immigration Practice is comprised of twenty-three full-time staff attorneys, a fully accredited BIA representative, five paralegals (two of whom are partially BIA accredited), two legal assistants, and a social worker. The Immigration Practice has hosted several Immigrant Justice Corps fellows and other post-graduate fellows.

Civil Justice

The Civil Justice Practice aims to reduce the civil collateral consequences for low-income clients who have had interaction with the criminal, family or immigration justice systems. Through legal advocacy in court and at various agencies, we assist people in remaining in their homes, maintaining their public benefits, staying in school, keeping their jobs, and protecting their consumer rights. In order to achieve these ends we practice in almost all of New York City’s courts at every level from trial to appellate courts. We also assist criminal defense attorneys and their clients by identifying potential civil ramifications of guilty pleas and strategizing ways to minimize the risk of eviction, loss of employment and educational consequences as a result of a criminal conviction. Philosophically, the unit hopes to help our clients mitigate the real life consequences of criminal justice system contacts by providing a multi-disciplinary help in various trouble areas. Finally, in addition to our in-house work, we will engage with the community and hold external educational clinics in close partnership with numerous community-based organizations.

Housing & Benefits Team Our Housing & Benefits Team has the goal of supporting the criminal practice by aiding to stabilize the living situation of our Brooklyn clients by representing clients in administrative proceedings, eviction proceedings, affirmative actions seeking repairs as well as advocate on their behalf for access to public benefits.

Support During the Criminal Matter. By identifying BDS clients from the different units (criminal, family, immigration and education) we can assist the stabilization of the family/individual and help advise the best resolution with a trained eye on the collateral consequences of the criminal matter, both in the realm of housing and public benefits..

Support for Eviction and Housing Proceedings. As some clients face eviction, the housing unit can step in and defend them from the owner, be it NYCHA or a private landlord. Further, in cases where conditions in the apartment become a serious enough problem to have consequences, such as bar to reunification of a family, the unit can bring affirmative litigation against owners so that they fix these conditions and the obstacles can be removed for our clients. NYCHA often brings termination proceedings against entire families based on minor arrests of guests or occupants; we defend these types of administrative hearings in order to prevent displacement of entire families.

Support for Termination or Denial of Public Benefits. As some clients face a difficult time in applying for and maintaining public benefits, we represent our clients in challenging agency decisions. This type of income/essentials of life support helps ground our clients in a multi-disciplinary manner, as the problems they face do not exist independent of one another. These include challenges to decisions by the Human Resources Administration, the Department of Homeless Services, the Social Security Administration and other agencies in the denial of shelter allowance, health care benefits, and income supportive benefits. Our Public Benefits Team will also be involved in helping craft new regulations as part of city-wide committees seeking to engage the new administration in public benefits reform.

Advocacy and Educational Outreach. As a leader in the legal services community, BDS is involved in city-wide conversations about cutting edge housing issues. As such we engage coalitions and other groups that seek to protect the tenant housing rights. We educate both the general public and vulnerable populations as to what rights they have before they have become involved in the system. In order to promote this knowledge the housing unit will work closely with Brooklyn community-based groups as well as police precincts, churches, community centers, libraries, local political officials, and other organizations, such as the Brooklyn Tenant Lawyers Network.

Education Team Our Education Project seeks to improve opportunities for young Brooklyn residents by advocating for their educational rights in formal proceedings against the Department of Education, as well as informally and in collaboration with school officials.

Frequently, the young clients BDS serves in family and criminal proceedings are “overage and under-credited,” and confronting obstacles to completing their education including, among other factors, overly harsh disciplinary proceedings, inappropriate special education services, and difficulty accessing alternative education options.

We work with our young clients to identify their educational goals, and then provide the necessary representation and advocacy to remove the identified obstacles.

BDS’ Education Project endeavors to not only to improve dispositional outcomes for our clients, but also to maximize our unique entry point into our client’s lives and ensure they get the support they need to pursue their educational goals and remain in the community.

Policy & Advocacy

BDS has been involved in dozens of court-based initiatives and special projects. Our staff participates in numerous court-improvement and bar association committees. One current project in which both our criminal and family practice staff is involved is the Center for Court Innovation’s “crossover” youth initiative, intended to address the issues that affect children who are both the subject of child welfare cases and have been arrested in either the juvenile or adult system.

Jail-Based Services Nearly 80 percent of people in city jails are in pre-trial detention, meaning that they are unable to pay bail as they await the disposition of their criminal case. Only a small percentage of jail residents are actually serving time as a result of a conviction. The policy of pre-trial detainment means that many New Yorkers suffer serious collateral consequences simply as the result of an arrest – whether or not they are actually found guilty of the crime they have been accused of committing. These collateral consequences extend to every aspect of their lives, from parental rights, to employment, housing and educational rights and opportunities. Meanwhile the geographic isolation of Rikers Island, the largest collection of jail facilities in New York City, creates tremendous barriers for our clients in their efforts to maintain contact with their families, communities and attorneys while they are locked up.

BDS launched Jail Services to mitigate the burdens that confinement creates for criminal defense and to protect our clients against these collateral consequences. Through our jail programming we are able to streamline our clients’ access to education, housing, family, immigration and re-entry services while attempting to meet their most immediate daily needs. Additionally, an established presence in New York City jails allows BDS to monitor and document the conditions New Yorkers encounter when incarcerated and advocate for the rights and welfare of our clients and other incarcerated people.Young New YorkersYoung New Yorkers is a restorative justice, arts program for 16-and 17-year-olds who have open criminal cases. The criminal court gives eligible defendants the option to participate in Young New Yorkers rather than do jail time, community service and have a lifelong criminal record. The curriculum is uniquely tailored to develop the emotional and behavioral skills of the young participants while facilitating responsible and creative self-expression. Central to the curriculum is the concept of taking responsibility for past actions as a necessary step before becoming valued members and leaders of one’s community. Each workshop is framed by a relevant theme: community; choice; accountability; responsibility; contribution; leadership. These themes are explored, as they relate to each participant, in conversation with the group and through art exercises utilizing photography, video, illustration, and design.

A series of six intensive, hands-on workshops prepares the participants to design a public art installation that expresses a positive social message of their choice. Local artists join each workshop and assist the participants in weekly art projects. The weekly artworks and the final installation design are then presented to the public at the Young New Yorkers Finale. The Finale allows the participants to experience themselves as worthy, creative contributors to their communities, rather than as undeserving and irredeemable criminal actors.

Young New Yorkers is supported by Brooklyn Defender Services and administered through the ADP initiative at the Red Hook Community Justice Center. Upon completion of the Young New Yorkers workshops, the participants avoid serving any jail time and, in most cases, have their criminal charges dismissed and sealed, leaving their young lives uninhibited by an adult criminal record. For more information see www.youngnewyorkers.org

Community ProjectsOur dedication to the needs of the Brooklyn community is evident in the projects we have created in response to those needs. Through private foundation funding, as well as support from individual City Council members and the Council’s Immigrant Opportunities Initiative, BDS has:

Partnered with the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyer’s Project (VLP) to form community-based immigration clinics in Crown Heights for the Haitian community;

Created the Young Mothers Empowerment Project to meet the special needs of our teenage clients who are parents;

Developed a community model in Sunset Park to help young people apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an immigration status that makes undocumented young people eligible for school and work; and

Developed the Strengthening Families/Strengthening Communities project which holds community forums and Know Your Rights parent workshops throughout Brooklyn to inform communities about the child welfare system and discuss the impact of this system on low-income families.

Community Office

All of our practices benefit from the opening of the BDS Community Office in East New York in August. The office allows BDS to better serve our clients living and working in the neighborhoods of East New York and Brownsville in their community, so that they may access services, meet with their attorneys, attend Know Your Rights trainings, and seek legal advice. We look forward to working with all of our community partners to ensure that the office remains responsive to the needs of the community.

PRO BONO AT BDS

Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is committed to high-quality and zealous representation on behalf of Brooklyn residents facing the criminal, family and immigration justice systems. As part of this mission, BDS strives to ensure pro bono partnerships leverage resources and provide critical support for our clients in and out of the courtroom to ensure our clients obtain the best result possible in court and, hopefully, a better outcome in their lives.

BDS regularly partners with New York City’s major law firms, corporations and other members of the private bar on numerous cases from all of our practice areas. Our pro bono partners have worked on individual cases, filed complaints in federal courts, co-authored amicus briefs, co-counseled hearings, filed and argued appeals and conducted research on novel areas of law. BDS offers pro bono opportunities that not only present ideal opportunities for pro bono attorneys to get real courtroom experience and work with clients in need, but that result in just and better outcomes for our clients. BDS offers both short- and long-term projects and has flexible co-counseling arrangements. Additionally, we offer comprehensive training programs, mentorship and supervision that will provide a meaningful experience for the pro bono attorney and the client.

Retired or Transitioning Attorneys interested in pro bono opportunities are welcomed at Brooklyn Defender Services. Our organization is one of the host organizations of the Attorney Emeritus Program (AEP) established by former New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. Please visit the NY Courts website to register for the program and contact Pro Bono Counsel Jessica Nitsche at jnitsche@bds.org.

Individual Volunteers are incorporated into our practices on an as-needed basis. Please send a resume and cover letter indicating particular skills you have that are applicable to our work and your specific availability to jnitsche@bds.org.

HISTORY

BDS opened its doors in 1996 as the first borough-specific public defender office in New York City, with 38 employees working around donated conference room tables out of office space recently vacated by the New York Telephone Co. That first year we lived rent-free, while the building was being renovated around us, and handled 10,000 cases.

Today, BDS is one of the largest defender offices in the country, representing tens of thousands of clients in criminal, family, immigration and civil cases annually. Our staff of 300 includes 180 attorneys and 120 social workers, investigators, paralegals, re-entry specialists, jail liaisons, community organizers and policy specialists as well as dedicated advocates for youth, veterans and parents. Our specialized defense approach allows us to provide targeted services for clients with mental illness or developmental disabilities, adolescent clients, trafficking victims and veterans.

PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS

Our primary mission at BDS is to represent people facing serious accusations from the government. We recognize that our clients face many additional challenges and obstacles related to their poverty. As the largest Brooklyn-based legal services provider, BDS’s interdisciplinary staff provides supplemental legal and social services on site to our clients, including immigration attorneys, housing attorneys, an education attorney and social workers who specialize in areas such as mental health and youth advocacy.

INFORMATION

BDS COMMUNITY OFFICE IN EAST NEW YORK

We accept walk-in consultations on a variety of legal issues including ACS/child welfare, housing, and criminal matters. The office also offers regular Know Your Rights workshops open to community members. Past training topics included education rights, seeking employment with a criminal record, and what to do when ACS knocks on your door.

Current BDS clients, if you need to connect with your attorney or social worker, it is possible to arrange meetings to be held at the community office.

The office also has a variety of informational material and community resources, including know your rights fact sheets, community events, and voter registration forms.

For more information, call (718) 254-0700 x 303.

NEED HELP?

If you are a Brooklyn resident and cannot afford an attorney, BDS will provide free advice.

In fear of being arrested? Call 718-254-0700 and ask for the operator.

CUSTODY ATTORNEY

BDS Family Defense Practice seeks an admitted attorney to represent clients in collateral cases that arise in child welfare proceedings, including custody and visitation, family offense, and paternity proceedings.

SOCIAL WORKER – NYIFUP IMMIGRATION PRACTICE

TRIAL ATTORNEYS – CRIMINAL DEFENSE PRACTICE

BDS Criminal Defense Practice will be interviewing third year law students this fall for full-time post-graduate positions that would begin in September 2018. Our interviewers will meet with candidates at the law schools and job fairs listed below. All interested candidates who are currently attending one of the law schools we will be visiting should apply for an interview through their institution’s on-campus interviewing (OCI) Symplicity system. Students who are not attending one of the schools listed below should apply through one of the job fairs we are attending. Alternatively, students not attending one of the listed schools and not able to attend one of the job fairs may apply by submitting their cover letter and resume directly to rlafontaine@bds.org before the December 1st, 2017 deadline.

ATTORNEY TRAINING PROGRAM FOR NEW BDS EMPLOYEES

Criminal Defense Practice Brooklyn Defender Services’ intensive training program is designed for recent law graduates and attorneys who are new to the practice of criminal law in New York. Attorneys spend the first few weeks of their employment at BDS attending in-house lectures on various aspects of criminal defense, shadowing experienced attorneys and practicing their skills through simulations of various aspects of criminal practice.

The Appellate Division has granted us a student practice order which gives us the right to have law students and law graduates working for BDS to appear in court even though they are not yet admitted to practice law. This allows our interns, fellows and recent law graduates to handle cases with supervision.

INTERNSHIPS

Law Student Summer Internships

BDS has many relationships with local educational institutions, including clinical study programs from New York University Law School (the Offender Re-Entry Clinic, the Family Defense Clinic and the Community Defender Clinic), the Youth Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law School, the Criminal Defense Clinic of St. John’s School of Law and the CUNY Law School Family Law Concentration Clinic.

Brooklyn Defender Services also offers full-time summer internships to law students who have completed their second year of law school and have a commitment to public defense. The internship program lasts ten weeks. Intern duties may include legal research and writing, representation of clients in arraignments (under supervision), court appearances, client and witness interviews, trial preparation and investigation assistance.

Our law student summer internship program is extremely competitive and positions are limited. To apply for a criminal position, please send a cover letter and a resume to Jillian Modzeleski at jmodzeleski@bds.org. If you are interested in a family defense internship contact Chas Budnick at cbudnick@bfdp.bds.org.

All internships are volunteer positions. However, BDS will work with students to secure funding from outside sources or class credits where available.

Internships are also available with the BDS Immigration Practice in three focus areas: Padilla, where attorneys work closely with BDS criminal defenders to avoid or minimize negative immigration consequences of their noncitizen clients’ criminal cases pursuant to our obligations under the Supreme Court’s decision in Padilla v. Kentucky; the Youth and Communities Project providing BDS clients and Brooklyn residents with affirmative immigration benefits and removal defense; and the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), a first-in-the-nation program that provides legal representation for indigent New Yorkers in detained removal proceedings. To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and at least two references to Sophie Dalsimer at sdalsimer@bds.org with “Summer Internship” in the subject heading.

Postgraduate Law Fellowships

Brooklyn Defender Services hosts fellows to work in our office on special projects. Each year, we aim to identify law student fellowship applications that meet our mission of serving underprivileged clients in Brooklyn through innovative proposals. These include Equal Justice Works fellowships, Skadden fellows, and Soros fellowships among others. We additionally welcome law students from around the country whose law schools have fellowship placement options, particularly post-graduate fellowships. Applications for fellowships for the upcoming year are now closed.

BDS Immigration Practice Summer 2018 Internship

Description and Responsibilities:

The Immigration Practice of Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) seeks summer 2018 law student interns. BDS is one of the largest public defense providers in the United States. We represent more than 45,000 clients per year in a variety of legal proceedings in New York City, primarily indigent criminal, family, and immigration defense.

The Immigration Practice has three primary focus areas: Padilla, Youth and Communities, and NYIFUP.

First, Padilla attorneys work in close collaboration with BDS criminal defenders to avoid or minimize the negative immigration consequences of their noncitizen clients’ criminal cases, and to ensure clients are fully advised of those consequences pursuant to our obligations under the Supreme Court’s decision in Padilla v. Kentucky. In some cases, Padilla attorneys continue to advocate for BDS clients after the criminal case is disposed. We advocate against our clients’ immigration detention, defend them in immigration removal proceedings, and provide assistance applying for immigration benefits.

Second, the Youth and Communities Project provides a full range of immigration legal services to BDS clients and Brooklyn residents, including removal defense and affirmative immigration benefits such as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), permanent residence, and victim and trafficking visas. We both identify clients in-house through our criminal and family defense practice and also participate in external clinics in close partnership with numerous community-based organizations.

Third, BDS serves as assigned counsel under the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project—a first-in-the-nation program that provides legal representation for indigent New Yorkers in detained removal proceedings at the Varick Street Immigration Court and in non-detained removal proceedings if our efforts result in the clients’ release. NYIFUP attorneys provide ongoing representation to clients facing immigration detention and deportation on a wide array of defenses, applications, and other creative advocacy efforts.

Initially, Immigration Practice interns will be assigned to one of these three practice areas with the opportunity to work with multiple attorneys. Based on interest, previous experience and capacity, the intern may also be able to be work in other practice areas.

Qualifications:

We seek dynamic students currently enrolled in law school with a demonstrated commitment to defending immigrants accused and/or convicted of crimes. Applicants should have a strong substantive background in immigrant rights, criminal justice, and/or social justice issues. Applicants should also possess the ability to perform nuanced legal research and writing, to communicate clearly and effectively with clients, and to be a team player.

All internships are volunteer positions. However, BDS will work with students to secure funding from outside sources or class credits where available. Most summer interns work full-time for 10-12 weeks, although we will consider split summers on a case by case basis.

Languages:

Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, or other second-language fluency is preferred but not required.

Application Instructions:

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and at least two references to Sophie Dalsimer at sdalsimer@bds.org with the subject line “Summer 2018 Internship.” We will accept applications on a rolling basis, but encourage applying by January 1, 2018.

Education Unit Internship

The Education Unit provides legal representation and informal advocacy to our school-age clients and the school-age children of our clients. As a legal and social work team, we work to improve our clients’ access to education, and a significant portion of our advocacy relates to school discipline, special education, reentry from incarceration and suspension, and enrollment in credit recovery or high school equivalency programs.

Responsibilities:

 Collaborate with attorneys and social workers in the criminal, family and immigration practices to address the educational needs of BDS clients;

 Conduct legal research on various special education issues and draft corresponding memos;

 Assist in special education and school disciplinary matters, including conducting client interviews, sending and following up on record requests, and attending meetings with an education attorney or social worker; and

 Help clients and their families navigate services and opportunities available through the NYC Department of Education.

Qualifications:

 A current 1L or 2L with a demonstrated commitment to social justice;

 Interest in working on behalf of youth and their families involved in the criminal, family welfare or immigration systems;

 Able to work in collaborative teams;

 Strong legal research and writing skills; and

 Proactive, flexible, and able to think both creatively and practically.

The position will be full-time and will last approximately ten weeks. The anticipated start date for summer interns is June 6, 2018. All internships are volunteer positions. However, BDS will work with students to secure funding from outside sources or class credits where available.

Application Instructions:

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume and writing sample to kfarkas@bds.org and maccomando@bds.org with the subject line “Summer 2018 Education Internship.” We will accept applications on a rolling basis up until April 1, 2018. Candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

Investigative Assistant Internships

BDS seeks undergraduates and recent college graduates with an interest in and a commitment to social and criminal justice issues for our Investigative Assistant Internship. Investigators locate, interview and take detailed statements from the witnesses, run background checks on witnesses and police officers, review video surveillance footage, draft and serve subpoenas, photograph and diagram crime scenes, and transcribe audio recordings. Investigative assistants additionally provide administrative assistance to the investigator team.

While some of the investigative assistant’s work will take place in the office, much of it will be out in the field—in private homes, in local businesses, on the street and in the greater community. Ideal applicants should be comfortable working all over Brooklyn and should possess characteristics necessary to approach and interact with strangers about sensitive subjects. Candidates must be able to work in a collaborative setting and be able to produce high-quality written work.

The internship has a rolling admission deadline, and start and end dates can accommodate academic schedules. The internship will start with an intensive, multi-disciplinary two-week training where the interns will rotate shadowing some of our staff investigators. Investigative assistants will learn about our progressive approach to representation, our different practice areas and the laws and ethics involved in investigation. Following the initial training period, investigative assistants will continue to receive ongoing training and supervision from an experienced staff investigator who will serve as a mentor and will be responsible for assigning cases.

Required qualifications and abilities:
– Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
– Interest in criminal justice, especially the fields of criminal defense and the rights of the accused
– Strong writing ability
– Fluency in another language is highly desired, but not required

This internship is unpaid. We strongly encourage interns to apply to grants, fellowships or any other funding available through school or third-party organizations. Interns will be provided with unlimited monthly metro cards for the duration of their internship.

To apply, submit a resume and cover letter to Brenda Duman (bduman@bds.org) and Sophia Rivero (srivero@bds.org) with the subject “Investigative Assistant Application.” Please specify which cycle you are applying to work for and if you will be working full or part time (e.g., Summer 2017, full time). Resumes and cover letters will only be accepted by email; no phone calls, please. If selected for an interview, applicants will be notified on a rolling basis.

DATA AND REPORTS

Brooklyn Defender Services handles approximately 40 percent of the overall criminal cases for the Borough of Brooklyn, making our client profile indicative, if not entirely representational, of the wider law enforcement trends across the city, as they pertain to arrests, custody and court adjudication.

STRATEGIC LITIGATION

BDS’s Special Litigation Counsel works with BDS defenders and clients, outside counsel and activists, to identify systemic criminal justice deficiencies and constitutional violations that unjustly affect criminal justice outcomes for our clients. Once identified, special litigation lawyers strategically litigate those issues in State and Federal courts to improve both process and outcomes for all accused New Yorkers. From challenging unreasonable bail conditions when a case starts to overbroad barriers to re-entry when it’s over, BDS is striving to make the criminal justice system accountable to those it intends to serve through its growing impact litigation practice.

ADVOCACY

Brooklyn Defender Services has amassed a wealth of experience and expertise on the complexities that inform our client’s lives and their involvement in the justice system. BDS works with each of the courts and other stakeholders to improve procedures and policies that affect our clients in each of the courts where we are the institutional provider.

As zealous advocates for our clients and the communities we serve, it is also our duty to contribute to the larger conversations taking place within the criminal, family and immigration justice systems in order to facilitate meaningful changes. Through our presence on working groups and coalitions, the use of our external communications, position papers, blog, and other forums we seek to educate system players, legislators and community members about the critical issues facing our clients and give voice to some of New York’s most vulnerable populations.

“We are pleased that Governor Cuomo directed DOCCS to rescind its package restriction rule, which had effectively prohibited care packages with most books and all fresh produce for people in three state prisons. This rule also increased the already high costs of having a loved one in prison, borne disproportionately by low-income people of color, as approved vendors’ prices were significantly higher than those of local small businesses. We urge DOCCS to continue to heed the call of incarcerated people, public defenders, NYC Books through Bars, and many others and refrain from implementing any new rule that further strains the connections between people in prison and their families.”

Governor Cuomo today announced groundbreaking steps towards reforming the most regressive policies in New York’s legal system, including ending monetary bail, improving the right to a speedy trial, removing barriers to re-entering society after conviction, and limiting asset forfeiture. In particular, BDS strongly supports the Governor’s commitment to improving transparency in criminal cases through fairer discovery laws. This represents an auspicious moment for criminal justice reform in New York.

Do you have a loved one detained at Rikers who could benefit from thermals, socks, t-shirts or underwear? If so, call our holiday hotline at 646-971-2696 with name, book and case number, size, and facility, and we can send a package.

My name is Keren Farkas and I am the Supervising Attorney of the Education Unit at Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS). BDS provides multi-disciplinary and client-centered criminal, family, and immigration defense, as well as civil legal services, social work support and advocacy, for over 30,000 clients in Brooklyn every year. I thank the Committee on Public Safety for holding this hearing and for providing us with the opportunity to testify.

BDS’ Education Unit provides legal representation and informal advocacy to our school-age clients. All of our clients are involved with the criminal legal or child welfare systems. A significant percentage are “over-age and under-credited,” and have been retained at least one grade. More than half of our clients are classified as students with disabilities. Nearly all of our teenage clients report at least one school suspension, oftentimes between two and six. As a legal and social work team, we work to improve our clients’ access to education. A significant portion of our advocacy relates to school discipline, special education, school reentry from incarceration and suspension, and enrollment in credit recovery and High School Equivalency programs

BDS commends the City Council for its continued attention to policing and discipline practices in our city’s schools. Since 2011, the Student Safety Act has provided invaluable insight into school practices, revealing the use of punitive discipline and police involvement at schools that, although lessening overall, continues to disproportionately impact students of color and students with disabilities. Confronted with the data from that law, city agencies, namely the DOE and NYPD, are allocating more resources to school climate reform. Although we are encouraged by the recent investments in pilot positive school-wide programs and school-based mental health services, we believe that all of our city’s schools – especially those presenting with the highest rates of suspension, calls to EMS, and arrests – need access to models, such as restorative justice practices and collaborative problem solving, that can positively address student misbehavior and lessen reliance on police. Ultimately, children should never be placed in handcuffs or be subjected to interruptions in schooling as punishment.

More School Safety Officers and More Metal Detectors are Not the Answer

BDS shares the Council’s deep concern about any violence in schools. We represent thousands of school-age youth every year and many on our staff are public school parents. However, we firmly believe that school safety officers often function to escalate disciplinary conflicts in schools, rather than de-escalating situations and making the school environment safer for all. We believe that all steps towards a positive school climate will come from increased funding, training and support for educators and school-based mental health clinicians, not criminal enforcement responses.

Keeping schools safe is a uniformly shared objective; where people diverge is how to achieve it. BDS strongly believes that increased police presence and metal detectors at school are not the solution. In fact, we believe that such efforts undermine school safety. School policing has not been found to prevent school violence.[1] Research actually demonstrates that police presence and metal detectors can significantly decrease a student’s perception of safety at school and, in turn, lead them to make unsafe choices to protect themselves.[2] Further, school policing criminalizes common adolescent behavior, exposing young people to the criminal legal system, making them more susceptible to future contacts and the litany of collateral consequences.[3]

Beyond its questionable efficacy in deterring school violence, a strong law enforcement presence sets a tone of distrust in a school that is not conducive to learning. Student police interaction is linked to poor academic performance and school disengagement.[4] The data mirrors our clients’ experience. We regularly meet with young people grappling with the harmful cumulative impact of disruptions to their education due to punitive discipline and the tensions associated with law enforcement presences in schools. Repeated contacts with school safety agents at school, often for non-violent adolescent misbehavior, have damaged not only their attitudes towards school, but their attitudes about themselves and their potential.

I also urge the Council to put incidents of school violence into context. Most incidents of student misbehavior do not involve weapons or guns making shootings or incidents involving dangerous weapons are extremely rare. Adolescent behavior, including misbehavior, is a function of immaturity, disability, mental health, trauma, bullying — all of which are not issues even the most well-meaning, thoughtful school safety agent is prepared to address. Likewise, they are better addressed by a restorative/preventive approach.

Training Trusted School Staff in Crisis De-Escalation & Restorative Justice Is the Answer

Our city’s schools need to shift to a culture where school staff, not police, take the lead in addressing and preventing student misbehavior. That shift requires a thoughtful and systematic financial investment and philosophical commitment to whole-school approaches that promote positive school climates. When schools utilize preventive, restorative approaches that focus on conflict resolution and diffusing problems early, there is an increase in both student social emotional and academic growth. [5] Research shows that comprehensive, consistent implementation of approaches, such as conflict resolution and restorative justice, is also associated with positive teacher-student and student-student relationships, vital indicators of a school culture that can foster learning and safety.[6] The programs are also linked with a reduction in school violence.[7] Increasing the amount of guidance counselors and school based mental health clinicians has similarly been associated with the same benefits to school climate and student safety.[8] These are the resources our city’s students deserve.

Notably, these approaches are found to decrease future conflict, and do so more effectively than police intervention.[9] This change is possible because the techniques actually teach students skills about conflict resolution and critical thinking, which they can draw upon when they will undoubtedly face future disagreements with others We must not forget that children and adolescents still have developing brains. All of our clients have also experienced trauma and/or poverty that have complicated their development of coping skills. A significant portion of our clients also have emotional disabilities. When schools rely so heavily on school safety agents to address discipline in lieu of positive behavioral approaches, we are not only missing opportunities to instill tools to support their positive development, we can exacerbate the underlying behavioral or mental health challenges.

Client Stories

Unfortunately, we continue to hear instances where School Safety Agents (SSA) unnecessarily insert themselves in situations, or school staff reflexively call upon SSA’s to intervene. Recently, a teenage client with known mental health needs did not want to speak with a school administrator and started to walk away. Seven SSA’s responded. A well-trained educator, guidance counselor or social worker could have more appropriately addressed and deescalated that situation. Another teenage client had a disagreement with a school official and raised her voice. Three SSA’s responded and escorted her to the Assistant Principal’s office. In several instances with Kindergarten and 1st grade students with known emotional disabilities, schools have called SSAs and the police to restrain the children following a tantrum.

In these situations, and the many similar ones we see clients experiences, with the right training and staffing, the school could have responded to the situation without police involvement. We believe, and the data affirm, that police responses are comparatively rare or even non-existent in schools with more privileged populations.[10] For instance, with training in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention in Schools (TCIS) or an effective behavior intervention plan, the schools could have used positive practices to help the young children manage their behavior. With the teenage students, they could have utilized guidance interventions, such as restorative circles, where both parties could actively participate in addressing and repairing the harm. By doing so, both the harmed and the harmer can feel valued and learn perspective-taking, empathy, and taking responsibility.[11] Instead, when utilizing punitive measures, we alienate the harmer, often resulting in school disengagement – a reality we repeatedly see for our clients.

School Segregation and School Climate

We also urge the Council to consider how rampant school segregation may be impacting school climate, school discipline, and access to therapeutic or restorative responses to problematic behavior. The Civil Rights Project of the University of California, Los Angeles issued a report in 2014 finding that New York City has one of the most segregated school systems in the country, and that New York State has the highest school segregation rates.[12] Ample research has confirmed a connection between race and school discipline, with Black students as much as six times more likely to be suspended as compared to their white counterparts.[13] Relatedly, certain public schools with wealthier student populations bring in donor-driven Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) budgets of more than a million dollars, allowing for substantial discretionary spending on a variety of enrichment programs and activities, while others struggle to fundraise at all.[14] This dynamic undoubtedly contributes to inequality in school discipline. Notably, both of the wealthy Upper West Side elementary school featured in The New York Times article on wealthy PTAs had zero student removals in 2015, 2016, and to date in 2017, while a nearby elementary school serving many children who live in public housing (PS 191) reported 38, according to DOE data.

Policy Recommendations:

The City Council can play a critical role in fostering safer and more supportive school environments. We recommend that the Council enact many of the reforms called for by the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. We focus on four today.

Reduce law enforcement presences in schools

We encourage the City Council to reduce the presence of school safety agents and metal detectors in schools and reallocate the funds to positive behavioral approaches. Research not only indicates that law enforcement presence does not create safer schools; it can detract from a positive school climate and student’s social emotional and academic growth. Moreover, there are more effective methods that require increased funding.

Expand positive whole-school approaches to address student behavior

We ask the city council to expand funding in whole-school positive methods, such as restorative justice practices, collaborative problem solving and therapeutic crisis intervention. To effectively implement and realize the associated positive benefits in school climate, schools staff need training, ongoing professional development and full-time staff to facilitate whole-school adoption of the approaches and ensure staff receive ongoing coaching.

We are encouraged by the pilot programs, but want to emphasize that there are many more schools that require this investment to counter punitive school discipline tactics and overuse of police. At BDS, we repeatedly encounter the same schools for inappropriate and overly punitive responses to student misbehavior, but none of them are on the current list of pilot schools.

Particularly for our students facing the toxic stress of poverty, access to school-based or school-linked behavioral health supports is critical to student success and school safety. We are encouraged by Thrive NYC and the Mayor’s office’s attention to mental illness, its impact on New Yorkers, and the need to invest in resources, such as a continuum of mental health resources for our city’s schools. More funding, however, is needed to carry out the thoughtful recommendations of the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and provide the range of staffing and services needed to ensure our city’s schools can address the root cause of misbehavior, starting with the highest need schools. We urge the city to expand financial investments to ensure our schools, particularly our highest need schools, have access to behavioral health consultants and on site mental health clinicians.

Increase the number of school-based guidance counselors and licensed social workers

Guidance counselors can serve a critical role supporting students and implementing guidance interventions, including restorative practices, as an alternative to punitive discipline. Clinically trained staff, particularly LCSW’s, can serve an additional important role — particularly working with youth who have experienced trauma, which is tragically very common amongst students in our highest-need schools. Beyond supporting individual students, guidance and social work staff can facilitate successful implementation of whole school reform and supporting all staff in the undertaking.

We urge the City Council to increase staffing and training for guidance counselors.

Conclusion

In short, we need to foster school culture that presumptively approaches all student misbehavior as teachable moments. We urge the city to support this goal by passing legislation to support schools to do so without police intervention.

Thank you for your consideration of our comments. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Andrea Nieves in my office at 718-254-0700 ext. 387 or anieves@bds.org.

[1]See, e.g., Advancement Project, A Real Fix: The Gun-Free Way to School Safety (2013).

[11] Trevor Fronius et al, Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: A Research Review, February 2016, available at https://jprc.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/RJ_Literature-Review_20160217.pdf.

[12] John Kucsera & Gary Orfield, New York State’s Extreme School Segregation (The Civil Rights Project at UCLA 2014), available at https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/ny-norflet-report-placeholder/Kucsera-New-York-Extreme-Segregation-2014.pdf.

[13] Alia Wong, How School Suspensions Push Black Students Behind, The Atlantic, Feb. 8, 2016, available at https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/02/how-school-suspensions-push-black-students-behind/460305/.

[14] Kyle Spencer, Way Beyond Bake Sales: The $1 Million PTA, N.Y. Times, June 1, 2012, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/nyregion/at-wealthy-schools-ptas-help-fill-budget-holes.html.

Executive Director Lisa Schreibersdorf published an op-ed about the dire need for discovery reform in the Albany Times-Union. BDS is a part of a statewide coalition of defenders and activists working together to call on the governor and the legislature to enact comprehensive criminal discovery reform and repeal the so-called “Blindfold Law.” Read here.

The MSW Intern Program at BDS currently has 20 interns from New York University, Fordham University, Columbia University, Long Island University and Hunter College schools of social work. The Program also hosts one Pinkerton intern. Interns are placed in the Adult and Adolescent Criminal , Family Defense, Immigration, Policy and Jail Services Units. Interns work interdisciplinary with our staff attorneys and social workers to address the clients’ out of court needs and support positive legal outcomes.

The New York Times reported on a new lawsuit filed by five mothers in New York City who claim the the Administration for Children’s Services discriminated against them and other parents, violating federal law. Lauren Shapiro, director of BDS’ Family Defense Practice, says the city has failed to provide adequate programs and services that could assist intellectually disabled parents in caring for their children.